email: xwang@nhm.org
office:
lab:
homepage: http://www.nhm.org/expeditions/rrc/wang/homepage.html
research interests: My current researches have two broad focuses: 1, evolution, systematics, and phylogeny of fossil carnivorans (meat-eating mammals) in Cenozoic and. 2, Geology and vertebrate paleontology of Tibetan Plateau.
Research Interests
My current researches have two broad focuses. 1, evolution, systematics, and phylogeny of fossil carnivorans (meat-eating mammals) in Cenozoic. In particular, I have concentrated on the fossil history of Canidae (dog family). In collaboration with Blaire Van Valkenburgh and Robert Wayne, we are tackling the issues of the molecular phylogeny and the timing of individual clades, and also their functional implications. 2, Geology and vertebrate paleontology of Tibetan Plateau. This NSF funded, field-oriented program attempts to learn about mammalian evolution in Tibet and their responses to paleoenvironments. The dramatic uplift of the Tibetan Plateau has caused a profound change of the Asian climate and environments. Such a change is recorded in the fossil records of mammals. I am leading a group of American and Chinese geologists and paleontologists to investigate various Cenozoic basins in Tibet and have discovered a number of fossiliferous localities.
Selected Publications
Wang, X., D. P. Whistler, and G. T. Takeuchi. 2005. A new basal skunk Martinogale (Carnivora, Mephitinae) from late Miocene Dove Spring Formation, California and origin of New World mephitines Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 25(4): 936-949 .
Wang, X., M. C. McKenna, and D. Dashzeveg. 2005. Amphicticeps and Amphicynodon (Arctoidea, Carnivora) from Hsanda Gol Formation, central Mongolia, and phylogeny of basal arctoids with comments on zoogeography American Museum Novitates 3483: 1-57 .
Wang, X., Z.-x. Qiu, and B.-y. Wang. 2004. A new leptarctine (Carnivora: Mustelidae) from the early Miocene of the northern Tibetan Plateau and implications of the phylogeny and zoogeography of basal mustelids Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 142: 405-421 .
Van Valkenburgh, B., X. Wang, and J. Damuth. 2004. Cope's Rule, Hypercarnivory, and Extinction in North American Canids Science 306: 101-104 .
Wallace, S. C., and X. Wang. 2004. Two new carnivores from an unusual late Tertiary forest biota in eastern North America Nature 431: 556-559 .
Wang, X., R. H. Tedford, B. Van Valkenburgh, and R. K. Wayne. 2004. Chapter 2 Ancestry: Evolutionary history, molecular systematics, and evolutionary ecology of Canidae The Biology and Conservation of Wild Canids Oxford University PressOxford 39-54 .
Van Valkenburgh, B., T. Sacco, and X. Wang. 2003. Pack hunting in Miocene borophagine dogs: evidence from craniodental morphology and body size Vertebrate Fossils and Their Context: Contributions in Honor of Richard H. Tedford Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 279: 147-162 .
Wang, X., Z.-d. Qiu, and N. D. Opdyke. 2003. Litho-, Bio-, and Magnetostratigraphy and Paleoenvironment of Tunggur Formation (Middle Miocene) in central Inner Mongolia, China American Museum Novitates 3411: 1-31 .
Wang, X. B.-y. Wang, Z.-x. Qiu, G.-p. Xie, J.-y. Xie, W. Downs, Z.-d. Qiu, and T. Deng. 2003. Danghe area (western Gansu, China) biostratigraphy and implications in depositional history and tectonics of northern Tibetan Plateau Earth and Planetary Science Letters 208(3-4): 253-269 .
Wang, X., and B.-y. Wang. 2001. New material of a Chalicotherium from Tsaidam Basin in northern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, China Paläontologische Zeitschrift 75(2): 219-226 .